Hello Restaurantpro ~
You posed an interesting question about a very interesting site. I'll
answer your question and give you a site evaluation based on what is
generally considered to be "good design practices" - that is, to get
your visitor to do what you want him to do.
In this case, I am going to assume the "purpose" of your site is to
present information about your course(s) to your visitors and
ultimately to get your visitors to purchase these courses in units (or
as a whole). I am not using the word "assume" lightly - because it is
not immediately apparent what the actual purpose of this site is, and
I'll address that in the site evaluation below.
There are numerous sources for "good" and/or "effective" web design,
including designing for "usability", "user-friendliness",
"accessibility", "ROI", "SEO", the "ABC's", the "1,2,3's", and you can
run the gamut through to the "XYZ's". Most of the experts stress
certain do's and don'ts, which are the same because they work. A list
of sources and source material - the basis for this evaluation are
listed at the end of this evaluation.
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About Your Question
===============================
You state "our site is getting a fair amount of hits but not
generating the expected traffic and has not been picked up by many of
the big search engines." You didn't state your expectations
traffic-wise, but you definitely serve a specific niche market, and
merely generating traffic won't necessarily help be of benefit.
Your hits statistics aren't as important as are the statistics for
unique visitors and referral sources. Other statistics which help
evaluate weaknesses are the amount of time your visitors spend on your
site, and the page from which your visitor exits the site. Obviously,
your conversion rate is an important figure as well. Many businesses
feel a 2% conversion rate is a good figure, although that figure
includes second and third time visitors who return to the site with
the intention of purchasing.
Generating traffic may sound good, but generating "good" traffic is
even better. By "good" traffic that means a high conversion rate, even
if the actual number of visitors seems low. If you are converting 5-8%
of those visitors into customers, that is a good ROI for a website
with a niche market such as yours.
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About Your Site
===============================
I used the following browsers to browse the site and found huge
discrepancies among how the browsers 'viewed' your site:
* IE 6.0 (with SP1)
* IE 5.1
* Mozilla 1.4
* Firebird 0.6.1
* Netscape 4.79
You ask the following questions in the survey on your site, and I'll
keep these in mind as I evaluate your site. At the end, I'll answer
those questions as I would if I were a visitor to the site.
* Did you find what you were looking for?
* Was the information useful?
* Please rate the ease of navigating on this site.
* Resaon [sic] for visiting this site.
* Did you make a purchase?
* Would you recommend this site?
===============================
Back to the Basics - HTML
===============================
Shari Thurow, one of the leading authorities in search engine
optimization, and author of the book "Search Engine Visibility",
recently observed the following about HTML:
"Clean HTML is absolutely imperative for search engine indexing.
Browsers are extremely forgiving when it comes to displaying pages
with "unclean" HTML (unclosed tags, no quotation marks, etc.). Search
engine spiders are not so forgiving. Even something as simple as a
missing quotation mark on the <.a href="page.html"> can cause a spider
to not index text or a link." (See: Link Exchange Digest, July 3,
2003, "Clean HTML")
- http://list.audettemedia.com/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A2=ind0307&L=led&D=1&T=0&H=1&O=D&F=&S=&P=282
Differentiating between search engine indexing and search engine
ranking, she explained how errors in HTML can affect your ability to
be indexed, and ultimately, ranked.
Below are some HTML elements which are often overlooked or omitted,
but which play an important part in your visitor's experience when he
visits your site. A good rule of thumb is always "what's good for the
visitor is good for search engines." The following, considered
"basics" for the best visitor experience are:
1. Title Tags
-------------
Google seems to give some weight to your title tags. While you do make
use of the title tags to some degree such as "CourseLine". I'm sure it
is helpful to you, but it means nothing to either a search engine
crawler (bot) trying to index your site or to your visitors.
Put your title tags to work for you! Change your title tags to more
closely reflect the content contained on each page. I had to dig to
discover that "CourseLine" is a trademark for a "family of courses
from the AH&LA Educational Institute". Add that to your title tag, it
will only add to an understanding of what that is.
Google recommends the same in its Design and Content Guidelines, "Make
sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate"
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
2. DOCTYPE Declaration
----------------------
The one omission on all your pages is a DOCTYPE Declaration.
DOCTYPES are essential to the proper rendering and functioning of web
documents in compliant browsers. It is also essential for the search
engines to understand and follow the coding contained on your pages.
DOCTYPE is explained and discussed further in "A List Apart",
- http://www.alistapart.com/stories/doctype/
and in Web Design Group's article, "Choosing a DOCtype",
- http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html
As you can see, inclusion of a DOCTYPE Declaration enables your
visitor's browser to render the site as you want him to see it. A good
rule of thumb is that if it's good for your visitor, it will be good
for Google.
Recommendation:
Add a DOCTYPE Declaration to each page. It may not help with
search engine optimization (although it definitely will not
hurt), but it surely *will* help with usability and
accessibility issues.
The way the site is designed (without a DOCTYPE Declaration), it
really appears disjointed in Netscape 4.79 and IE 5.0. While overall,
the share of those browsers in use may be less than 10% (actually
around 8% according to some website statistics), certain markets rely
on older browsers to run certain interfaces peculiar to their
industry.
I do not have browser statistics for your market, which I presume are
either restaurateurs or prospective restaurateurs, but can you afford
to turn away even 5% of your prospective customers because your site
isn't usable?
3. Alt Tags
-----------
Google recommends the use of alt tags for every graphic. This is
because search engines cannot read graphic images. If you use graphics
for your internal site links, you cannot afford to NOT add those ALT
attributes to your graphic tags.
Google's suggestion: "Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are
descriptive and accurate." (See Google's Design and Content
Guidelines)
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
And for accessibility, you simply "have" to use the Alt Tags for your
images.
4. Accessibility
----------------
Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794
and 794d, set forth the minimum government standards for
accessibility.
Bobby is a free service which "will allow you to test web pages and
help expose and repair barriers to accessibility and encourage
compliance with existing accessibility guidelines, such as Section 508
and the W3C's WCAG." Unfortunately, your pages, as presently coded,
could not be accessed by Bobby.
The Bobby analysis page can be found here:
- http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp
===============================
Back to the Basics -
The Aesthetics of Web Design
===============================
To Flash Or Not To Flash?
-------------------------
Flash is interesting, once! After that, most of it is totally
irrelevant and a waste of bandwidth. If you don't think web designers
knew this from the start, ask yourself why they give you that "skip
intro" escape.
One has to question the use of the Flash doorway on your site
(www.restaurantworkshop.com). It takes a while to download on high
speed internet, and considerably longer using a dialup connection. It
doesn't 'look' like the rest of your site, it accomplishes nothing,
and it is more intrusive than informative. Your visitor wants to know
what the site is about, what the *purpose* of the site is, not have to
wait out the download of a totally unrelated flash presentation.
Recommendation: Ditch the splash screen and get your visitor right to
your home page. "Don't waste your visitor's time with a gratuitous
flash page. Remember: he's there for a reason." (From Nine Deadly
Website Mistakes - Which Do You Need To Fix")
The splash page adds nothing, and is referred to as a "doorway" page
by Google, and you may even be penalized for it. Google's "Reasons
your site may not be included" addresses the issue of such pages:
"You employ doorway pages. Google does not encourage
the use of doorway pages. We want to point users to
content pages, not to doorways or splash screens."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html#A1
What's Above the Fold?
----------------------
While not as important for search engine crawlers as it is for your
site's visitors, you should have your important content appear "above
the fold". "Above the fold" means that first screen full of
information.
Considered to be important things that should appear above the fold:
* Your logo or company slogan to help establish your “brand”.
* WIIFM (What's in it for me?). A list of some benefits your visitors
will enjoy by staying on your site or buying your products or
services. This should include keywords for the search engines and
should focus on the visitors.
What is the biggest benefit to your visitors?
* A navigation menu. Your visitor has come to your site for a purpose.
Don’t make them hunt for your links - on any page!
* Special Offers Promotions, etc.
And remember to try not to clutter this area.
Some good articles on effective Website design and discussion of
"above the fold" can be found here:
* NetLingo, The Internet Dictionary, "Above The Fold Defined"
- http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/above_the_fold/
* RMH Web Design: "Web Site Design: Designing Above the Fold"
- http://www.rmhwebdesign.com/articles/abovethefold.html
* SitePoint, "10 Tips to Building A Click-Ready Website"
- http://www.sitepoint.com/article/224
Other articles discussing the benefits of effective Website design can
be found by using the search terms:
- articles: web design + above the fold
or
- effective web design
Recommendation:
Get rid of the animation! It's distracting, it pulls your
visitors' eyes away from the content, and in this day and
age, it screams "amateur" to your visitors. If it doesn't
enhance the content (and in this case, it doesn't) it can
be considered to detract.
For what it's worth, those who have their individual browsers set to
allow for animation once and then to stop - the "On The Air" flashing
gif below the left menu stops on an empty screen.
Choice of Colors
-----------------
Your background color is set to grey. If your visitor doesn't have
their browser set to override your color choices (and most don't),
they are trying to read black text against a grey background. I can
understand where you may think white a bit glaring, but you can set
the background to an off-white, with a slight blue, say #FEFEFE, which
appears to be white without the glare. The grey somehow gives an
appearance of the site being incomplete.
What's the Site About?
----------------------
As important as "what's above the fold" is what the site is about.
There is a legitimate question about what IS your site about?
On your 'home page' looking from upper left to right, one encounters:
1.) A navigation bar with
'home', which one expects to see in 'first' place on a
navigation bar or menu;
'news', which goes to industry related news;
'resource center', which goes to a page of links to other
sites;
'articles', which goes to a page of links to articles by
RWI's experts;
'search', 'about', and 'contact us', which are self-explanatory.
Is this Navigation bar, and the links on it the most important part of
your site? If not, rethink where you have it placed and why it is
there. Your visitors expect to see the most important part of your
site first, and the links on that navbar are puzzling.
Besides that, you have a left-hand menu - you could always incorporate
those items on the navbar in your left-hand menu without compromising
your site's integrity.
2.) A graphic table with a white background with:
'plate/table setting' - your coding says this is a 'logo',
but how if your visitor to know that?
Text saying: 'Restaurant Workshop Inc. A Site for Higher
Learning' ... this is a bit of a question. "higher learning"?
what's that? college?
'animated globe' - it's impossible to discern the relevancy
of this graphic, except perhaps to balance out that top table
or banner. If you want to keep a globe, at least get one
that isn't animated and that looks good (without the jagged
edges).
Next is text saying "Restaurant Workshop is the global link training
the food and beverage industry"
Think about this from your visitor's point of view. There is nothing
above the fold to tell your visitor what your training is. Global
link? to what? Your 'featured product' is a
videotape/software/booklet? But what is this site about?
Rearrange that home page to tell your visitor what you're offering and
link from there. I *assume* you are trying to sell your courses, but I
cannot tell for sure about that, because nowhere does it indicate what
the site is really about.
That first screenful of information should make it clear what you're
offering, and link to it ... get your visitor to the information from
there.
Recommendations:
1. If you've got a course or a whole series of courses - say so, and
get your visitor to the information about those courses.
2. You have some valuable information under Starting A Restaurant -
tell your visitor what that is and why they need to go there.
3. If they are YOUR courses, tell them. If they are someone else's
tell them that, too, and tell them why they should purchase them from
you.
4. While it's nice that you have acquired a "golden web award" or a
"diamond award", put those award on inside pages, not at the bottom of
your page. This adds nothing and once again says "amateur".
Remember, you are trying to attract professionals, and to do so, you
must present your best professional front yourself. The only thing
many visitors have to judge you by is this website, so you want to
make a good first impression.
5. Your "Why RWI & E-Learning" link brings up a popup. The information
there is a big surprising, because it produces a popup. Except if
someone is browsing with popups blocked, in which case, they don't see
it at all.
The information on that page really is more of FAQ than the answer to
"Why RWI & E-Learning", but in any case, there should be a link to it
as FAQ, and it should be in a page other than a popup.
6. Your site has so much to offer, online learning ... great articles
and reviews, yet your first page (not the flash) doesn't inform your
visitors what's there and why he should care.
To this non-food worker, there appears to be very valuable information
and material on this site, but you are relying on me and your visitor
to find the information on their own. My suggestion is to revamp the
site so the first page informs them what you're about, what you offer,
both free and for a fee, and why it should matter to your visitors.
I suspect this is a case of you understanding your choice of
arrangements, but think of it from a visitor's standpoint. He is there
for a reason, whether he got there from an article or from search
engine, and he WANTS to be there to see your information.
It becomes your responsibility to make sure it is there for him to
easily find, even if it means revamping things you consider obvious.
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Credibility & Trust
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According to a study conducted by Consumer Web Watch and Stanford
University on establishing credibility and trust among your visitors.
What they look for are real information on the "about us" and "contact
us" pages. While you talk about who you are, you do not discuss where
you are. They want to know if you have an office (which is nice, but
if not, say so), what city you are in, and a phone number to call you
helps.
Privacy matters - a lot. You are asking people to supply YOU with
their information, name, address, phone numbers, credit card
information ... now, you deserve to tell them what you are going to do
with that information.
The Credibility & Trust Issues abstract can be found here:
- http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/news/report3_credibilityresearch/stanfordPTL_abstract.htm
For more information concerning privacy issues:
* Privacy.org
- http://www.privacy.org/
* Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
- http://www.epic.org/
Dealing with minors
--------------------
The FTC has rules regarding dealing with minors (COPPA). You should at
least be familiar with the provisions and the effect they may have on
your business, if any.
The FTC site is here:
- http://www.ftc.gov
Rules regarding minors and COPPA are here:
- http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy/
Hint: Some businesses just do not do business with minors and require
all their customers to be at least 18 years of age. If your
circumstances are different, it is best to consult with a professional
to find out what effect, if any, it may have on your business.
This should all be stated at least within your Privacy Policy, as well
as other parts of your site, if necessary.
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Your Order Form
===============================
How often is your shopping cart being abandoned?
Once you have a customer ready to buy, make it easy for him to get
there. The rule of thumb is no more than TWO clicks to check out.
I tried to make a purchase and had to click and click and click,
giving information, click again, click again before I could even get
to the part to buy.
Take a lesson from Amazon or other sites that allow for the buyer to
click to buy and then check out - fast. Why? Because it works.
Think about those shipping costs! For some reason, free shipping is
always attractive to buyers - even though they know it's not really
free. How do those merchants do it? They build it into the costs, by
adding 'x' amount to the price of their items across the board.
If you don't feel comfortable doing that, then find the way to tell
them up front what their shipping cost will be, without requiring them
to fill in the information first, as you do presently.
This can be accomplished by adding a page about how you ship and what
the charges will be, such as:
Zip Code is 12345-67890, $US 7.00 (or whatever) will be added to
your order.
Every time you require a BUYER to click before he can actually get to
the act of making that purchase, you run the risk of losing him and
another abandoned shopping cart.
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About Those Survey Questions
===============================
As I mentioned, I'd answer your survey questions, so here goes:
1. Did you find what you were looking for?
In all fairness, I didn't know what I was looking for, but some
changes as mentioned above on the front page would help your visitor
to find what he's seeking, especially if he's arriving from a search
engine or a link from an article or another site.
2. Was the information useful?
Once I got TO the information, it is useful. Those articles are great!
The information needs to be put out there in front of your visitor so
he can do what you want him to do - buy your products.
3. Please rate the ease of navigating on this site.
That has been discussed. Your menu is better than your navbar (which I
suggest getting rid of and adding the items to the left-hand menu).
But you need to help your visitor understand what's there and why he
should care.
4. Resaon [sic] for visiting this site.
In this case to do an evaluation and make suggestions to help your
return on investment.
5. Did you make a purchase?
No, but I would have abandoned the shopping cart at the point where
you wanted my state, etc., to add the shipping charges. I found it to
be offensive - and that's a personal observation, not based in any
kind of study.
6. Would you recommend this site?
Actually, that's a toughie - yes, NOW that I know the amount and
quality of the content and information available. But on first
look/impression, the answer would be 'no', because I had to dig to
find the good stuff. Make it easy on your visitor to find his way
around.
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Methodology & Basis
for Evaluation
===============================
I relied on bookmarks, information I use on a daily basis and a series
of articles and reference sources, some of which contain material of
my own contributions. Listed below are some of those references and
resources.
For the basics in effective web design, there are sources such as:
* Jakob Nielson's useit.com (design and usability)
- http://www.useit.com/
* Vincent Flanders' Web Pages That Suck
- http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
* World Wide Web Consortium (W3C.org)
- http://www.w3c.com
Articles on design, accessibility, usability, search engine
optimization and effective design:
* Grant Crowell & Shari Thurow of Grantastic Designs
- http://www.grantasticdesigns.com
* Shirley Kaiser of SK Designs and an active member of W3C
- http://www.skdesigns.com
* Veronica Yuill - Up2Speed's I-Design Digest
- http://www.up2speed.com
* Andrew Borland - Up2Speed's I-Sales Digest
- http://www.up2speed.com
* Detlev Johnson - Search Engine Guide & I-Search Discussion List
- http://www.searchengineguide.com
- http://www.up2speed.com
* Danny Sullivan - Search Engine Watch
- http://www.searchenginewatch.com
White papers, marketing & design studies, usability and accessibility
studies by:
* Jupiter Marketing & Jupiter Media Matrix
- http://www.jmm.com
* Consumer WebWatch & Stanford University - Website Credibility
- http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/news/report3_credibilityresearch/stanfordPTL_abstract.htm
My suggestions for change are mostly cosmetic and tightening up the
information presented for purposes of usability (specifically ease of
use), accessibility issues, and basic marketing principles.
The information on your site is extremely valuable to your niche
market, I just feel that you need to rethink how to get your site's
visitor TO that information in the easiest and most convenient way.
Most visitors do not want to have to dig around to find what they're
looking for, so you need to present up front what you have and where
it is.
Thanks for the question - it gave me the opportunity to dig around
(literally) and find out some interesting information about the food
service industry.
Best regards,
Serenata |
